“Whisper the day away

Whisper one day away

You make headway” 

(Kristin Hersh 1997)



My original plan was for this post to be devoted solely, to my experiences of the brain injury charity, “Headway”.  

 

Typing Kristin Hersh’s above lyrics did, however, inspire some positive thinking which, if you don’t mind, I would like to share with you.  These thoughts are not particularly profound, and I’ve alluded to similar ones in earlier posts. I do though, think that it is worth delaying the main content of this post, for a few moments. If nothing else, if I say things often enough, I might start to believe them!

 

The gist of the lyrics seems to be that little-by-little (and, perhaps tentatively – “whisper”) progress can and will be made.  

 

I have previously talked about my “journey” through post-injury, life. BUT I don’t want that journey to be downward or flat – I want it to be onwards and and upwards. 

 

To me, Kristin’s use of the word “headway” is indicative of such positive travel. 

 

I am certainly in “a better place” now, than I was some years ago and my deepest desire is for things to keep going in that direction. As to my proposed destination – this can probably be articulated in a number of ways, and appropriate flexibility might be needed. I do, however, think that it is safe to say that I am striving for things, along the following lines:

 

·      An acceptance of my alteration (now Phil v2.0!)

·      An appreciation of assistance; and

·      A true sense of self-worth (sorry – I’ve run out of words beginning with the letter “a”, so you’ll have to make do!)

 

Going down that road, can feel to be a (sometimes frustratingly) slow process. Nevertheless, I am coming to believe that only by an acceptance and application of a cautious, one step at a time approach, can my “journey” be effectively, travelled. Yes, there has been some backward and downwards steps, but I believe that, little by little, I “make headway”.

 

And now, back to the charity – another way in which I now spend some of my time:

In terms of what Headway do, I cant really improve on their own words (taken from their website - https://www.headway.org.uk):

 

“Headway is the UK-wide charity that works to improve life after brain injury…”; and

 

“…a network of Headway groups and branches across the UK and Channel Islands provides a wide range of services including rehabilitation programmes, carer support, social re-integration, community outreach and respite care to survivors and families in their own communities.” 

 

All in all, to adopt a key slogan of theirs:

 

“Improving life after brain injury”

 

I first attended some local branch meetings, fairly soon after the accident. At that time, by reason of the mental outcomes of my accident, I felt unable to cope with situations involving more than one or two others. This is in no way, the fault of Headway – simply a manifestation of my newfound psychological difficulties.

 

A few years later though, I decided to give it another go and am very glad that I did so! 

 

I am now a regular attendee at their weekly “drop-in” sessions. Through this, I have had the opportunity to mix with fellow brain injured individuals and in some cases, their personal care workers; together with a number of Headway voluntary workers.

 

Apart from any social pleasure (and there is quite a lot of that!), I find it stimulating to hear other perspectives on brain injury and it is assistive of a realisation that I am far from alone.

 

It also, provides some inspiration, to hear of the range and depth of issues faced by others who are dealing with the aftermath of a brain injury and the (often successful) ways in which they are seeking to address them.

In passing, it is worth stressing the support that Headway can (and does) provide to families of the brain injured. It can also very much, assist those with minor difficulties – as these are likely shared, with the more severely affected. If in doubt, please encourage any relevant person that you might know, to get in touch with them. In any event, the Headway website (link above) contains a lot of useful reading material. 

 

Of further (and great) importance to me is that, as time has gone on, I have been able to move beyond being a mere recipient of Headway services and am now able to give a something back …

 

At the last local branch AGM, I was made a member of its committee.

 

For lockdown purposes, the weekly meetings are now held online. This makes one-to-one chats rather difficult and it has seemed appropriate to replace them with other activities. To this end, I have organised a few quizzes, that seem to have been well received. I have also facilitated a musical performance by a couple of friends of mine.

 

In my “Actions speak louder than words” post, I mentioned some speaking opportunities that have recently occurred. To add to these, I have been asked to be one of the plenary (or, in their words “main”) speakers at the (now postponed) annual, national Headway conference.

 

In addition to the other benefits arising from Headway that I have already mentioned, this provision of (rather than receipt of) services to Headway makes a significant contribution towards the attainment of some self-worth. I can’t complain about that …



 

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